


Kiss After the Fall

by EmeraldandSilver



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Acrophobia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Heartbreak, M/M, Post-Break Up, Trans Male Character, past otayuri, past viktuuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-03 03:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11523816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldandSilver/pseuds/EmeraldandSilver
Summary: When Yuri Plisetsky's boyfriend Otabek dumps him for JJ, Yuri feels as if he isn't worthy of love. He runs away to his grandpa's house, leaving his dreams of skating behind. Thankfully Yuuri Katsuki shows up to convince him to come back to skating and deliver the news that he too has suffered a recent break-up. Through his renewed friendship with Yuuri, Yuri starts to think that maybe he's not broken after all...and maybe, just maybe this could be more than friendship.





	Kiss After the Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kiitsuo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiitsuo/gifts).



Yuri Plisetsky believed in love. He believed in husbands and lovers. Families and happy endings. All his life he’d been searching for love and he had found it in his best friend Otabek Altin.

…or so he had thought.

They were sitting in Otabek’s cozy hotel room when it happened. Yuri had just won his first World Championship (he’d come in silver the year before), and Otabek had taken bronze for the third time. Yuri felt a moment of true peace because everything was right with the world. For once in his life, he was letting himself be happy. His gold medal. Otabek. Privacy in this hotel room. Once he subtracted some clothing, it would be the perfect night.

Yuri started unbuttoning his jacket, but Otabek put a hand on top of Yuri’s. The look in his eyes was unreadable. Yuri felt suddenly uncomfortable on the plush blankets as worry sped his heartbeat. “What’s wrong?”

Otabek seemed hesitant as he began to speak. “Yuri, we can’t do that tonight.”

“Why not?” Yuri demanded. It was pretty much a post-competition ritual for them to have celebratory sex in one of their hotel rooms. The only exceptions were when Yuri was on his period, but he’d been taking testosterone shots since his seventeenth birthday weeks ago; that wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

Otabek sighed, interlacing his fingers with Yuri’s. “We can’t do that again. This. Us. It needs to end.”

It felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. Yuri yanked his hand away and stood. “What are you talking about?”

“Our relationship has been dwindling for months. It’s time to move on with our lives.”

“Why are you doing this to me? Why now?”

“It’s been a long time coming.”

Yuri slapped him. “Don’t give me that bullshit. Why are you breaking up with me? Is it because I started taking T?”

“No, of course not.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable that I’ll start growing facial hair soon? That I plan to get rid of these…” He gestured to his chest. “You said that it didn’t bother you. Were you lying?”

“No, it’s nothing like that. I would never break up with someone because of that. Please, you have to believe me.”

“Then what’s the real reason?” Yuri demanded.

Otabek sighed and averted his eyes, looking oddly guilty. “It’s because of JJ.”

“JJ?” Yuri clenched his fists. “What rumors is that asshole spreading about me?”

“No rumors. What I mean is, it’s because I’ve fallen in love with JJ.”

Yuri did a double take. He opened his mouth and closed it several times, at a loss for words. “JJ as in Jean-Jacques Leroy? The asshole who stole bronze from you two years ago at the Grand Prix. The guy who has been bullying me for being trans since I debuted in senior division. _That_ JJ?”

“Yes, that JJ. I know you hate him, but I used to be friends with him back in Canada. We were almost something there, but he chickened out. We started talking again at Four Continents, and I don’t know. Things just worked this time. It feels right.”

“Four Continents? So you’ve been cheating on me since January? Three friggin’ months?”

Otabek shook his head. “It wasn’t like that. We didn’t do anything other than talk.”

“But you love him?” Yuri asked in disbelief.

“I never believed in soulmates or love until now. I’ve never felt like this before. This connection is just so perfect. We fit together like two sides of the same coin. Haven’t you ever felt like that?”

“Yeah, I have. _With you_.”

Otabek grabbed Yuri’s hand and squeezed it gently. “It has to work both ways. I like you, Yuri, and I don’t regret that we dated, but we don’t have a future together.”

“And JJ and you do?”

“I hope so. We won’t know until we try. I promised him that I would end this thing between us. I’m going to his room tonight. So, thank you for everything you’ve done for me, but this is goodbye.”

Torn between kissing him and punching him, Yuri fought to control his breath. “If this is what you want, then I suppose I can’t stop you. But don’t _ever_ talk to me again.” Yuri stormed out of the door and slammed it behind himself.

The moment the door had closed, Yuri felt the anger fade away. All he could feel now was an empty chill, a sadness that burrowed deep down into his skin. In a daze, he went back to his hotel room, turned out the lights, and sat on his bed staring into the darkness.

Love was a myth after all—or maybe it was only for deserving people. Maybe being born wrong made him unworthy.

…

Sunlight shone through the blinds in the guest room of Grandpa’s house, painting striped patterns on the wall. Yuri stared at the bands of shadow and light, at their beauty. He remembered how Otabek would talk about shadow and light—nature’s painters.

Yuri rolled over on the bed and pulled the covers over his head. It had been two months since Worlds, and he’d spent the whole time bonding with his grandpa (just a codeword for “hiding away”). He’d dated Otabek for over a year—he couldn’t just decide to get over that. It would take time, and thankfully his grandpa was willing to give him some.

His alarm sounded. He remembered that he’d promised to go to brunch with his grandpa. They were planning to go to Grandpa’s favorite restaurant, which Yuri had never been to before. All he knew about it was that they had the best syrniki in Moscow, at least according to his grandpa.

With a click, he silenced the alarm on his phone. He couldn’t help but open the Instagram app. It was a bad habit he’d developed since the break up. Otabek and JJ had been posting pictures constantly since they started dating. They were now a real power couple and had each gained several thousand new followers.

Today’s photo featured them with Mickey Mouse in Disneyland Paris. It made Yuri feel sick to his stomach. Otabek had never taken him anywhere so exciting. They’d stuck with quiet coffee shops and video game arcades, a movie here and there, lots of clothes shopping. What about JJ made Otabek want to be more adventurous with his dates?

“Asshole,” Yuri muttered.

“I hope you don’t mean me,” came a voice from the door.

Yuri sat up immediately. “No, Grandpa. Of course not.”

“You’re not wearing that to brunch, are you?” Grandpa asked, chuckling.

“Sorry. I’ll get changed.”

“Hurry up. We’ve got a reservation.”

Yuri hurried to get his clothes together, thinking for a moment that it was strange to make a reservation for brunch, but then forgetting as he searched for his favorite pair of pants—cheetah print skinny jeans.

Once clad in his black T-shirt, jeans, and combat boots, he headed to the living room. Grandpa sat on the couch, flipping through a newspaper.

“I’m ready, Grandpa,” Yuri announced.

“Good. You’re looking sharp.”

“Thanks.” Yuri couldn’t suppress his grin. He’d recently gotten a new binder, which made his chest lie flatter than before. He felt that it made all his outfits look a hundred times better.

They drove to the restaurant. The outside was unassuming, looking more like a log cabin than a restaurant, and the inside made it feel like they had walked into the past. Old-fashioned instruments and knickknacks hung from the walls, along with dozens of animal paintings and fancy plates.

The hostess checked the reservation list for Nikolai’s name, and then led them to a private dining room set off to the side of the main room. One occupant sat at the table. None other than Yuuri Katsuki.

“What is he doing here?” Yuri asked, feeling the instinct to run from the restaurant.

Grandpa chuckled and patted Yuri on the back. “He’s just joining us for brunch.” He pushed Yuri forwards.

“Hi,” Yuuri said brightly.

Yuri eyed the man up and down. His short dark hair and blue-rimmed glasses still looked the same, but he looked like he’d been training more intently lately. He was wearing a tight-fitting T-shirt that left little to the imagination. Unlike Yuri, he definitely hadn’t been skimping on his summer training. “Um, hi,” he mumbled, taking the seat beside Yuuri.

“I’m going to go find the restroom,” Grandpa said and left Yuri to the wolves.

“So, this is where you’ve been hiding,” Yuuri said. “Yakov’s been calling you, you know?”

“Yeah, I know.” Yuri couldn’t meet his rinkmate’s eyes. He stared at a painting of a fish on the wall in front of him. “I don’t have anything to say to him.”

“He wants you to come back. We all do.”

Yuri whipped his head around to glare at Yuuri. “Why would you want me back? I’m competition, aren’t I? I’ve been stealing plenty of golds and silvers. You should be glad I’m taking a break.”

Yuuri sighed, frowning. “That’s not how it is. Training really isn’t the same without you.”

“This ‘intervention’ isn’t going to convince me to come back.” Yuri stuffed his face in the menu and started perusing the options, but the words were blurring before his eyes.

Yuuri pried the menu from his hands and set his aside. He spoke, his voice going soft. “Why are you insisting on staying away? You love skating. How could you just abandon it?”

“How could _he_ abandon me?” Yuri yelled, tears falling freely now. Silverware clattered on the table, and he realized he’d slammed his fist onto the tabletop. “Sorry…”

“Look, I understand that you’re hurting, but you can’t avoid him for the rest of your life.”

Yuri crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Oh yeah? Watch me.”

“You shouldn’t give up on your dreams just to avoid someone who didn’t even love you in the first place.”

“Thanks.” Yuri couldn’t keep the anger and pain out of his voice. He felt so raw and vulnerable and hated that Yuuri was here to witness his unraveling. “I’ll remember that he never loved me every time I look at his stupid Instagram photos with JJ.”

“Give me your phone,” Yuuri said.

“What?”

“Trust me.”

Yuri didn’t trust him, but he handed over his phone anyway. He thought Yuuri would go for his Instagram app and unfollow JJ and Otabek, but he went for the text messages.

Yuri reached for his phone. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“I was right. You do still have all your messages.”

“Give it back.” Yuri’s heart raced as he tried to snatch his phone back. He could see Yuuri’s thumb hovering over the ‘delete’ key. The ‘deleting messages…’ bar popped up on the screen, and then the conversation with Otabek—thousands of messages, a diary of their relationship—vanished.

Yuri felt like a balloon that had been popped. Emptiness took over, and also relief. “Why did you do that?” Yuri asked.

“Because if I didn’t, you’d just keep holding on to him. As long as those messages are there, you can go back and read them. And you will keep seeing the relationship as you saw it during those times. Not how it really was.”

“What makes you the expert on this?” Yuri grunted.

“Because,” Yuuri said, “six months ago Viktor broke up with me. So…I know exactly what you’re going through.”

Yuri couldn’t believe it. “But he’s been coaching you all this time.”

“He agreed to finish out the season as my coach, so Worlds was our last event as coach and student. I’m training under Yakov now.”

“You didn’t even take a break from skating?” Yuri was starting to feel pathetic about himself. Here he’d been moping for two months, and his rival-slash-friend Yuuri Katsuki hadn’t even taken a day off.

“I didn’t need a break. Things had been stressful in our relationship for a while. Having him as coach and competitor was tough. I started to get paranoid that he was sabotaging my routines so I wouldn’t beat him. Silly, right?”

Yuri shrugged. “Not that silly.”

“Anyways, he’s finally retiring, and I think he’s going to try coaching someone else.”

“Oh, well, good for him.”

“So, Otabek cheated on you?”

Yuri shook his head. “That’s the thing. He didn’t. Like a gentleman, he waited until he had properly broken up with me to start dating JJ. That’s why I can’t really hate him even though I’m mad, you know?”

“He still cheated,” Yuuri said. “If he was in love with JJ while dating you, then he was emotionally cheating on you.”

“Maybe.”

“You should come back to St. Petersburg and work on training again. The work will be a good distraction, better than wallowing in your sorrow here. It’s not good for your grandfather.”

“He doesn’t mind.”

“Of course he doesn’t mind, but it’s still an emotional burden on him. You don’t want him to be sad and worried all the time because of you.”

“Wait, is he?”

“Why do you think he called me?” Yuuri smiled sympathetically.

Yuri fiddled with the napkin on the table. He suddenly felt bad for all the worry he’d caused his grandfather. “I…I didn’t think about that. He never said anything.”

“He wanted to give you time to heal, but he realized that healing wouldn’t happen here. You need to be skating again, working through your emotions with your routines. That’s how every great artist moves forward. So please come back to St. Petersburg with me, Yuri.”

He didn’t know if he was tired of arguing or if he really did miss skating, but it was the easiest ‘yes’ he’d said in a long time.

…

Yakov, Mila, and Yuuri were all glad to have Yuri back. Mila even put together a ‘Welcome Back’ party for his first day returning to training. It felt good to know that he belonged somewhere. While he was dating Otabek, he had forgotten how important his real friends were, too caught up in the relationship. Now he had the freedom to have fun with his friends.

He stopped worrying about relationships or however many photos JJ and Otabek were posting together. Instead, he worked on new routines with the theme of friendship. No more worrying about guys or love. So yeah, maybe romantic love didn’t exist for everyone, but Yuri was sure that friendship love existed and he couldn’t have had better friends.

A couple of years ago he hadn’t consider Mila or Yuuri his friend, but they had been his friends even then. He’d just been too stubborn to admit it. The three of them started hanging out together a lot. It became something of a routine. So easy. No relationships, no drama. Just chatting and laughing together.

It seemed like it would last forever.

But then came Sara Crispino. She’d been friends with Mila for years, but during Skate America they finally started dating. Mila was very excited about it when she told Yuri, but all he could think was that their days as a dateless trio had come to an end.

Skate America was in Chicago that year, and so Mila invited the group to come to Navy Pier with her. Just as Yuri suspected, it became Mila-and-Sara-ignore-everyone-else time. Relationships always ruined everything.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Yuuri asked as they stood in line for Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

Yuri snapped out of his trance. He’d been glaring at Sara’s back for the past few minutes as the couple shared strawberry ice cream at a table. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“It’s Sara, isn’t it?”

Yuri thought about arguing, making up some story about how he felt sick, but he had come to trust Yuri over the past few months of training together. It wouldn’t be right to lie to him now. Yuri sighed. “It’s just that she came out of nowhere. Mila’s been single this long. I didn’t think she’d jump into a relationship so fast.”

“Do you like Mila?” Yuuri asked.

“No, it’s not that.” Yuri tugged his hand through his chin-length blond hair. “I hate how they’re totally ignoring us now.”

Yuuri chuckled. “Well, maybe we should get up to some trouble of our own.” He held up the brochure featuring a picture of the ferris wheel.

“Get the ice cream after?” Yuri asked.

“Good plan.”

…

Yuri wasn’t sure why he agreed to ride the ferris wheel with Yuuri. He’d been so anxious to get away from Sara and Mila. A ride on the ferris wheel had seemed like a good way to calm his anger. But once he was up in the ferris wheel seat alone with Yuuri, he felt his chest tighten and his heart race. What was he doing?

“The city looks so pretty from up here,” Yuuri commented.

“Sure,” Yuri said, not daring to look down at the city. He’d never been comfortable with heights. Even on airplanes, he had to listen to music the whole time to keep him distracted from the thousands of feet between him and the ground.

Yuuri looked over at him, smiling, but the smile faded as their eyes locked. “What’s wrong?”

This must have been why Otabek never took him to an amusement park. He was the only person he’d told about his fear of heights, and even now, he found himself afraid to tell Yuuri. But he’d figure it out soon enough if he didn’t say anything.

Yuri grabbed onto the railing beside him, staring at his leopard-print shoes. “This was a bad idea,” he said. “I forgot that me and heights don’t get along.”

“Oh, no. I’m so sorry.” Yuuri reached over and grabbed Yuri’s hands. “Look at me,” he said.

Hesitantly, Yuri looked up and gazed into Yuuri’s warm brown eyes. He was smiling softly. Yuri interlaced his fingers with Yuuri’s and squeezed tight as the cart made an unexpected jerk.

“It’s okay,” Yuuri said. “See, it’s still moving.”

Yuri nodded, but his throat felt too dry for him to speak. He continued to stare at Yuuri and finally noticed the faint reddening of his cheeks. He glanced down for a second and saw their knees were touching.

“Look at me again,” Yuuri said, his voice almost a whisper.

Yuri did.

A moment passed in silence, and then Yuuri leaned closer and planted a kiss on Yuri’s lips. It was a terrifying kiss, like lightning crackling through every inch of Yuri’s body. Before Yuuri could pull away, he wrapped a hand around Yuuri’s neck and kissed him back. The kisses were both sweet and fervent, innocent and desperate for more.

Yuri didn’t even notice that the ferris wheel had stopped. The operator cleared his throat and told them to get out of the cart. Embarrassed, Yuri rushed from it and onto the crowded walkway.

“Are you okay?” Yuuri asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Yuri said, slightly breathless. He wanted to ask about the kiss, but he couldn’t form the words. It had been so much easier with Otabek. He’d simply asked Yuri out and the kissing had come later. With the story in reverse, Yuri wasn’t sure what came next.

“How was the kiss?” Yuuri asked.

“It was okay.”

Yuri glanced over after the silence had stretched on for a couple minutes. Yuuri was staring at his feet, looking rather disappointed.

“Wait, Yuuri.”

“Hm?” He didn’t even look up.

“Was that kiss serious?”

Yuuri did look up now. His cheeks were a fierce red. “What? No, I just thought it would help calm you down.”

“Oh…” Yuri felt strangely disappointed. He’d admired Yuuri for years, but he hadn’t thought of him as anything other than a mentor or a friend. But now after that kiss, he wanted to start thinking about it. Could Yuuri mean more to him and he just never noticed? Had he buried his feelings in admiration?

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that,” Yuuri said.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have. Because now I want to kiss you again.”

Yuuri stopped walking, and Yuri had to turn around and walk back over to him.

“Why did you say that?” Yuuri asked, sounding a bit frightened.

“Say what?”

“That you want to kiss me again.”

“Because I do. I—I don’t really know what any of this means, but I liked the kiss. A lot.” Yuri bit his lip as he remembered the feeling. It was the kind of electricity he’d only read about in dumb romance novels.

“Yuri, I’m eight years older than you. An adult. I shouldn’t be doing this with you.”

Anger coursed through Yuri. “Seriously? You’re going to pull the age card now? Sixteen is the age of consent in my country. I don’t see the problem.”

“It’s eighteen in my country,” Yuuri said. “Maybe we should wait until March…”

“Screw that! If we try this out, we try it now.” It was October. March was five months away. Yuri didn’t think he could stand waiting in an awkward state of maybe-something-will-happen-later for that long. Otabek had waited until Yuri’s sixteenth birthday to ask him out, even though he’d been flirting with Yuri for months before. He wasn’t going to go through that again, and especially not based on the laws of Yuuri’s country.

“You’re still so young. I can’t take advantage of you like this.”

“You aren’t! Besides, you live in Russia now. So we follow the Russian rules. I was born and raised here. I’ve taken care of my family since I was a child. I’m more mature than most adults in their twenties and thirties.”

Yuuri smiled softly, but there was still a hint of sadness in it. “You’re right. You’ve been through a lot more than a normal teenager would. But let’s just give this some time, okay? I don’t want to rush into anything. You’re still getting over Otabek.”

That much was true. Yuri couldn’t even try to deny it. “Then we wait until I’m over Otabek. And not until I turn some arbitrary age. Deal?”

Yuuri laughed. “Deal. But it may take longer than you think.”

“Oh yeah? Watch me.”

…

For a while, it seemed like Yuri made no progress in getting over Otabek. He still checked Instagram way more than he should, but he stopped becoming angry every time he saw Otabek and JJ together. He still thought about him whenever something reminded him, like the lights and shadows at play, but the feelings in his chest became less and less painful.

The Grand Prix Final was the first time Yuri would see Otabek and JJ together in person. He was terrified about it, but he tried to focus on his determination to win. He needed to prove to Yuuri that he wasn’t hung up on Otabek anymore.

Since June, Yuri had been training hard and Yuuri even longer than that. He hoped his training would be enough. If he didn’t at least beat Otabek, he would feel like a failure.

Yuri poured his heart into his performances and managed to beat Yuuri who came in second and Otabek who came in fourth. He didn’t win gold though. JJ did.

Afterward, JJ came to gloat to Yuri, and instead of fighting back like he normally would, he congratulated JJ. He actually meant it too. After a nudge from Otabek, JJ apologized for teasing Yuri about being trans and admitted that he hadn’t meant any of the horrible things he said. He’d only been trying to psych out the competition. Strange as it was, Yuri believed him.

JJ’s theme this year had been ‘love’, and his routines had reflected the deep bond that Otabek had spoken of. Yuri was happy for them truly, though he wasn’t in any rush to jump into being friends with Otabek again.

Viktor Nikiforov had made a surprise appearance, so Yuuri ducked out during his conversation with JJ to go talk to him. Yuri glanced at them as they chatted in the back of the stadium and then finally left the stadium together.

Disappointed, Yuri headed back to his hotel room alone. For the past two months, he’d been pining over Yuuri. He was certain now that his feelings were real—it wasn’t just the rush of the moment. What he wanted with Yuuri was a relationship deeper than the one he had shared with Otabek.

But now he wasn’t so sure he would get it. Viktor seemed so eager to talk to Yuuri. Would he ask for him back? They weren’t coach and student anymore, or even competitors; they were just two figure skaters who had a lot in common.

Yuri didn’t stand a chance against him.

…

A knock sounded at Yuri’s hotel door. He opened it to find Yuuri on the other side looking particularly excited. No doubt he would soon share the news that he and Viktor were together again.

“Sorry, I forgot my room key,” Yuuri said. He still wore the bronze medal around his neck, but he had changed into a normal track suit. His bag with his skates and costume in it was strung across his shoulder.

Yuri let him into the room and collapsed onto the bed casually, trying to act as natural as possible. He picked up the remote and flipped on the TV. Recaps of the competition played on it, Yuuri’s amazing quad lutz, JJ’s passionate step sequence, Yuri’s Biellmann spin.

Yuuri walked over to the TV and hit the power button.

“Hey, I was watching that,” Yuri complained.

“We need to talk.”

Yuri swallowed, hard. Dread filled his stomach. He knew where this was going, but he didn’t want to hear it. “Can’t we talk later? I’m tired. I just want to relax.”

“Please, Yuri. I don’t think I can wait until later.”

“Fine. What is it?”

Yuuri came over to the bed and sat next to Yuri. “Look at me?”

Panic seized Yuri and he started to cry. He felt so stupid, the most pathetic guy in the world. No wonder Yuuri chose Viktor over him. “What?” he asked angrily, glaring at Yuuri through his tears.

Yuuri looked thoroughly confused. “Did something happen? Oh, no. JJ said something to you, didn’t he?”

Yuri snorted. So Yuuri had told JJ about getting back together with Viktor? How stupid.

“You seemed fine, so I left you alone, but I should have stayed by your side. I’m sorry,” Yuuri said in a rush.

“Don’t be sorry,” Yuri said. “You’re happy again. That’s what matters. Don’t worry about me or my stupid feelings.”

“Of course I worry about you,” Yuuri said. “I can’t just turn off my feelings for you.”

“Please, don’t do this to me.”

“Do what?”

“Give me hope!” Yuri yelled. “If you love Viktor, you should just forget about me.”

Yuuri tilted his head. “Viktor? Why are you bringing him up?”

“Because he was here tonight. Because you went to talk to him.”

“Oh, you saw. It’s not what you think, really. You were tackling your demons, so I figured that checking on Viktor would be the right thing to do. We went to the hotel restaurant so we could catch up.”

“That sounds an awful lot like a date,” Yuri said bitterly.

“It wasn’t. I told you; our relationship fell apart. We weren’t right for each other. I don’t want to go back to a relationship where I felt inferior all the time.”

“Oh… I didn’t realize he made you feel like that. That sucks.”

Yuuri laughed. “Tell me about it. What about you? Did Otabek ever make you feel inferior?”

“Not exactly. I always placed higher than him in competitions. But I guess I did feel physically inferior…”

“Because he was born male?”

“Yeah,” Yuri said, though he hated to admit it. He shouldn’t have been jealous of Otabek. Otabek had always treated him like an equal. He’d been respectful and gone at Yuri’s pace. But Yuri had always felt like he was holding Otabek back.

Otabek hadn’t been sure about his sexuality, so Yuri had always had a sneaking suspicion that he was straight and only dating Yuri because of his birth gender. Obviously he’d been wrong since Otabek was now head over heels in love with JJ. But then again, maybe that was why Otabek’s relationship with JJ had stung so much at first. JJ was as manly as they come—manlier than Yuri could ever be.

“You’re not weak,” Yuuri said.

Yuri snapped out of his thoughts. “What?”

“If Otabek couldn’t see what a strong young man you are, that’s his problem. Yuri, do you have any idea how captivating you are on the ice? Not just in a beautiful way, but also in a powerful way. Strength radiates from you, no matter how short you are or what your body looks like. You are strong, and I—I love that about you.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I can’t wait a day longer. I love you, Yuri Plisetsky. Ever since that day on the ferris wheel, I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind. Even during practice, my motivation was to impress you. That’s why I worked so hard. That’s how I got this bronze.” He gestured to the medal hanging from his neck.

“A—are you sure?” Yuri’s voice sounded weak, but it was only because he’d had his hopes destroyed so many times that he needed confirmation this wasn’t some joke.

“More sure than I’ve ever been. I’d give up katsudon if it meant I could spend every day with you.”

Yuri laughed, happy tears spilling down his cheeks. “Idiot. I’ll learn how to make katsudon for you. God, you’re so sappy.”

Yuuri smiled playfully, then leaned over to give Yuri the kiss he’d been craving for the past two months. He was brought back into that moment on the ferris wheel, where all of his fears disappeared because Yuuri was beside him, kissing him.

And for the first time in his life, he believed without a doubt that he was worthy. Of love. Of happiness. Of a future with Yuuri Katsuki.

 


End file.
